Dressed to Kill

I have no idea whether Brian De Palma intended his film as a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's lifelong work or simply imitated his style in an attempt to achieve the same effect. If I wanted to be mean, I would say that it is a blatant plagiarism of Hitchcock's directing techniques, but the result can still be interpreted. In any case, the film strongly resembles Hitchcock's most successful works, both in good and bad ways. De Palma similarly doses tension, relentlessly builds up expectations, and delivers a hard, emotional blow at the right moment. Hitchcock's films usually relied on innovative direction, while the scripts often tended to be weaker. Dressed to Kill works in the same way. De Palma serves the audience several delicious scenes, and I join those who consider the clever long scene in the gallery as the film's premature climax, where De Palma skillfully manipulates the viewer's expectations and serves up a nymphomaniac and her potential killer. The problem lies in the plot twist, as even only slightly sharper viewers will understand it no later than in the third part of the film. Like many directors before him and after him, De Palma prefers visually striking scenes over logic. Nancy Allen looks beautiful, Brian De Palma had good taste in choosing his life partner, and as expected, Michael Caine carries the film by his presence. Overall impression: 65%. (12/11/2018)

Since I have a rather superficial knowledge of Hitchcock's work so far, and haven't seen most of his best films, I can't objectively judge how much De Palma is copying him or to what extent this is a sympathetic homage or a distinctive variation. For me, what's important is that Dressed to Kill managed to captivate me with its narrative style, its beautiful musical theme, and now I finally know and see from whom Tarantino learned those split-screens and that kind of twisted filmmaking style as such (which I personally find very likable, though.)) (11/10/2010)

I'm seriously wavering between three and four stars - so I'll give it three and a half, which I'll round down. Dressed to Kill is a very solid example of what De Palma can do. For example, the long camera rides underlined by beautiful (this time Donaggio's) music. Furthermore, there is also the combining scenes that take your breath away (the opening shower, the gallery sequence) with scenes that are incredibly suspenseful (the best one takes place at the station and on the train). The weakest link in this whole erotic-thriller chain is probably the script. Not that it's predictable... But it's not a slam dunk either. At least it relies on reliable actors like Michael Caine, who simply does not disappoint.__P.S. The filmmakers could have done without the final 10 minutes. (29/12/2010)

Alfred Hitchcock is the top for me and I really like Brian De Palma. And that’s why I’m not giving Dressed to Kill more than three stars. Formalistically, this film resembles Hitch more than Hitch himself, but it’s suspense and shockingness are offset by a slight naïveté and, in places, unintentional humor. If De Palma did this on purpose with the aim of maintaining a sense of detachment, then he robbed the film of what makes Hitch Hitch and the reason for loving this tribute to the master. If he didn’t do it on purpose, then the film’s naïveté probably comes down to the period in which it was made. Which brings us to another shortcoming of De Palma – Hitch’s films don’t age. (25/02/2004)